Chapter 49: Tomas & Kalen, part two

Chapter 49: Tomas & Kalen, part two

Where have you been, boy?

Tomas Orellen stopped in the front room of the ramshackle house and looked toward the elderly man whod spoken. Wether sat in the corner, in a wooden chair gone gray with age. Hed painted the runes for a cushioning spell on the seat, so it was just about the only comfortable chair in the place.

Between them, two of the others were snoring in their blankets on the floor. The rest would all be in the back room. Or upstairs, if they were willing to brave the fragile staircase.

I went for a walk, Tomas said, speaking just as quietly as Wether had.

The old magician crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair.

You cant take walks that long. Theyll start thinking youve gone off to betray us, and then where will we be?

Thats a new one, thought Tomas.

Am I a traitor now? he asked. When I left the house earlier, wasnt I a favored son receiving special treatment? I must not have appreciated it much if I turned to treason.

You were a such a happy lad when you were small. I didnt expect you to grow up with such a load of sarcasm in your heart.

Wether occasionally mentioned having met Tomas when he was younger. Tomas didnt recall the man at all.

And dont speak of going off letter again. Not you. Its bad enough for the others to do it.

How many letters have they even had to follow? Tomas said. He didnt care enough to hide the disgust in his voice. Three? Four? And now theyre all so tired of it and ready for it to be over. Ive followed dozens. I would have followed these, too, without complaint if they would only leave me alone and stop taking everything out

You may be still a child, Wether said. But we cant afford for you to act like one.

How am I the one being childish?

Rillard shouldnt have struck you. He should keep his fears to himself at a time like this and do his duty to the family. All of us should. But even if every one of them moans and complains about their lot, you cannot.

Why? Tomas demanded.

Because youre the Lords son, Wether muttered.

Tomas stood with his hands in the pockets of the fishermans coat, confused enough by the old mans reasoning that he couldnt respond right away. The air smelled heavy, sweet, and rancid. Someone, probably Sara, had been burning incense to cover the scent of rat piss.

Our family never had a Lord, Tomas said finally. Not in the way common people mean it. It was only for show, to ease business with those who care about such things.

When hed been young and felt very proud of his position, hed been quickly corrected by his mother. Lord and Lady Orellen were a decoration. Their household was an elaborate, aristocratic theater the clan used for dealing with the many important people around the continent who were comforted by the illusion that they were shaking hands with a nobleman rather than a practitioner.

In the Enclave, Ivens power came from his magic and the Seniors belief in his potential. The title had followed that, but it had no power of its own.

What is Iven even supposed to be the Lord of, if all our lands and businesses are gone?

Of us, boy.

The Seniors

You must know the dynamic is different now. Its different from anything our clan or any other has experienced. Our strongest sorcerers and elders follow the instructions of a single man because they must. As the years pass, they hold us together with news of his power and his care for us because we have so few things to bind us. More and more, he becomes a talisman to everyone who follows his instructions, so that we can continue to follow them until this is all over. If he is not our true Lord now, he will be by the end of it. And you are his son.

I dont even know him anymore, said Tomas.

You are his son, the old man said again. If you do not have absolute faith in him, how can the rest of us?

Tomas opened his mouth, but he couldnt find any words that wouldnt just start another argument in the house. He spun and headed up the stairs.

Madness, he thought, dodging a broken board. What a mad opinion. Does he really think that I have the power to influence all of these older magicians who resent me for my relationship to Iven?

Was Wether saying Tomass duty to the family was to look everyone in the eye and say, Have faith in Father. He has great plans for us all!?

I think his last personal message to me might have mentioned if he expected me to be some kind of mouthpiece for him.

It had beennot uncaring, but distant. As all of them had been for the past few years. I hope you are happy. Enjoy the new books. Study hard. Your sisters and brothers are well. Mother and I love you.

A letter for a son you no longer knew. For a boy whose hopes, fears, and heartaches you hadnt been a part of. A letter for a stranger, from a stranger who maybe wished it wasnt the case.

But apparently some people expected Tomas to pretend he was their Lords son. Not a fake Lord. A real one.

Nerth is right. Politics is unfathomable.

Tomas wove around a few sleeping people to find his bedding in the back of the single upstairs room. The son of the great Lord Orellen checked his covers for bugs, found several, and crushed them all with disgust. He stuffed his ears with wads of torn fabric so that nothing could crawl in them while he slept.

I should have just stayed at that nice inn with him, but then theyd all panic. Or think me a traitor, apparently.

If the mage came in the next two days, they would all leave together. If she did not, they would fight for a few moremaybe Tomas would be sent away as his father and the Seniors had ordered. Maybe he wouldnt.

It doesnt matter anymore. I cant leave him.

His heart pounded as the thought settled in his mind. Even this morning before daybreak, when hed angrily told Rillard he would gladly send the man off in his place, he hadnt truly meant it. Tomas had lived his whole life by the letters. And he still had a life, so that was something.

He had hoped the magicians here would get a grip on their feelings and follow the instructions. Hed assumed they would.

Deep down he hadnt really been afraid that they would all fail to do what the messages said.

Because nobody ever had before. Not in any of the places hed been so far.

Resentment. Whispers behind his back. He was used to it.

Hed even been struck before, twice, by family members. Hed been shocked to death the first time it had happened, a couple of years ago. Now that hed gotten it a third, he decided that being a mans height must make it more acceptable for people to take their tempers out on you.

Or perhaps it was all his own doing. Hed lost some measure of shyness and stopped keeping his thoughts to himself every time he landed in a new place.

Apparently, some of his relatives found the fact that he had thoughts at all offensive.

But never before Granslip Port had Tomas really feared that the people he was with would go rogue and abandon the plan altogether. Something had been different with these ones from the very beginning. Maybe there were just too many of them. Hed never moved with such a large group. It was usually only two or three in company together.

And now its not even them going rogue I have to fear. Its myself.

He wasnt going to leave Kalenerth.

He could have. Even after seeing the boy sing and realizing who he was, he had been planning to keep his distance. Even after realizing he was living with the aunt whose health was failing, even after the woman diedNerth had seemed like he might be all right living under the churchs wings with the priestess who admired him.

Tomas had thought he was a stranger to the younger boy, and so it had been possible to believe that they were only meeting in passing and it should stay that way. Two Orellens in hiding, coming together and then disappearing from each others lives againTomas was used to it.

He learned to read because I told him to. He kept the secret because I told him he must. He remembered me as clearly as I remembered him.

Tomas squeezed his eyes shut.

I never did grow out of it, did I?

When he was around the same age as Nerth was now, hed been briefly placed in a house with his older sister Adora. She was only two years his senior. Hed been overjoyed. Hed been so hungry for her to feel the same way, andshe didnt. She hadnt been mean, but she had been inconvenienced by the intensity of his interest in her. And completely confused that he felt close to her when she didnt feel close to him at all.

We barely played together at all when we were little, shed said. I was always closer to Dallie, and you were always closer to Rella. Im sorry, but I dont know what you were expecting from me.

I kept sending letters to them all, too. Long after they stopped bothering to send them to me.

Their letters had always been unsatisfying in the same way that Fathers and Mothers were, but for a long time he didnt care. He would send. And they would reply.

But eventually, even Tomaspitiful as he wascouldnt ignore the fact that their letters were only ever replies. After a couple of years, none of his siblings reached for him the way he reached for them.

Even I have some small amount of pride.

Not much though.

Everywhere he went, Tomas collected traditions. They were the only things hed found that didnt change. His name changed. His home changed. His friends changed so often that he no longer bothered to make them.

But for four hundred years in Bolampor, there had been a festival on the first day of Saint Tocks month.

And for more than a century, the thirteen-year-old girls and boys in the village of Urma had walked in a line up a staircase that led nowhere each day at dawn to signal the end of their youth.

Their feet had worn the stone down to almost nothing in places. The stairs would crumble before the tradition did.

Are you going to meet someone who will look after you?

Im twelve.

You seem to think thats a much more impressive age than it is.

Kalen scowled at him.

Sorry. Im not trying to insult you or make you mad, Imdo you want to come with me?

You cant take me with you. Im not mentioned in the letters, so its bad luck isnt?

Forget the letters, said Tomas, leaning toward him. If the letters didnt exist and you didnt know anything about the luck magic at allif I wasnt with the others, and it was just me and you making decisions right now in this room, would you want to come with me?

Kalen stared at him. But its not like that

You are being very literal. Pretend. Do they not have pretending on Tiriswaith?

That was silly. You couldnt make important decisions based on the way you wanted things to be instead of the way they were. He did give me the magepaint. I suppose I can indulge him.

Kalen thought about the question.

Youre taking an awfully long time, Tomas said hesitantly. Dont feel like you have to say

Be quiet, Kalen commanded. If you want me to pretend, you have to give me time to think through everything that goes with the pretending.

Tomas looked confused, but he fell quiet.

Tsunar was in completely the wrong direction, so Kalen wouldnt be going with Tomas there. Even by portal. Unless there was another portal group in Tsunar who could send them back in the right direction?

But in this pretend, he wants me to assume the magicians hes with dont exist. So no portals?

I wouldnt go with you, Kalen said.

Tomass face fell. Oh. Thats understandable. I just

I would want you to come with me instead. Tsunar is the wrong way. I need to head east. I would like for you to come with me and teach me magic along the way. Before we left, we would come up with a way to rob Barley & Daughters

Were not going to do that!

But its pretend, said Kalen, smiling at the older boys expression. So Im pretending that I get everything I want out of Granslip Port before I go. After Barley & Daughters, well steal all the Orellen books in Cob Acresss library. Hes got some. I saw them. Well burn their Enclave to the ground, break the scrying plates theyre using to find us, and ride east in a fine carriage, reading and discussing spatial magic the whole way.

It will probably take us months and months to get where were going. So Ill teach you some spells I know, too, he finished.

Tomas took a deep breath. Lets do it, he said, clenching a fist in determination. Not the pillaging and burningI admit it sounds like it would be fun, but not for very long before we died. And not the fine carriage because those are too conspicuous. But Id like to travel with you.

You cant, said Kalen, frowning at him. Your luck

Damn my luck!

Kalen suddenly felt like he was talking to his younger cousin Veern, who often had more passion than sense.

No, he said, in the same even tone one had to use when talking Veern down from eating tree bark on dares or pulling pranks on girls. Dont damn your luck. I dont want something bad to happen to you because of me. So you cant really come with me.

I dont want to leave you behind. And you dont hate my company, so

Thats not enough of a reason.

Youll come with me. Or Ill go with you.

You cant even get the other Orellens to send you where you need to go. Theyre all jealous of the ones being sent away. I dont think dragging me along is going to make them more willing.

I dont remember going into that much detail about

Ill be fine. Thank you for worrying about me, Kalen said quickly. But I can take care of myself.

If the mage comes in time, well get to do what the others want. Theyll be in a better mood. There will probably be enough power to take you along with us. I could insist. They wont want to show up all together without me, so if I threaten not to go without you

Kalen frowned. Why would you do that for me?

Im your big brother. I want to. That reminds me He rummaged in his pocket and produced the coin. I want you to keep this. Imbue it sometimes even if you dont need to ask it a question.

He held it out on his palm, and Kalen stared down at the familiar gold circle.

Why? Your father gave it to you, and you havent even seen him in years. Dont you want it for yourself?

Im not sure what it does, said Tomas, looking down at it, too. But it doesnt make sense for it to be only a luck piece. Now that I understand a little morewell, I think it might be something protective. So you keep it.

Why is he like this? Tomas, its yours.

Tomas dropped it onto Kalens lap. It slid between his knees to thump onto the floor.

It meant a lot to me when I gave it to you. His smile held a touch of sadness. I know you probably dont think of me as your close family. Thats all right. We only knew each other on that first day, and it would be strange if you did think of me that way after all this time. But Ive realized that I think of you as my little brotherand if you dont mind, Ill just keep doing that. Let me give it to you. And let me stay with you, at least until youre somewhere safer than this place.

Kalen stared at him.

It was too much. Too odd and uncomfortable.

Were just not as close as he wants us to be.

Kalen felt a connection to Tomas, but not one so clear-cut and intimate.

Im not his little brother. Hes not my family. He doesnt know me at all. Lander will always be more of an older brother than he is. Lander was with me when I grew up. Even if I think Tomas is kind, and hes important to me somehow, its different

Kalens thoughts of home, and his true family, suddenly triggered something deep, deep in his heart. Tomas had shouted that he loved him, that long ago day. Back then, he had carried Kalen in his arms to that hidden place in the grass and declared it to the world like it was something unchangeable.

So childish. Hed just met me moments before. Something like that cant be real.

Only it could.

The very first second hed held Fanna in his arms, Kalen had been willing to give her anything. His soul. The world. Their parents.

And one day, hopefully soon but probably not, Kalen would go back home. She might be twelve years old. She might think him a pitiful, strange boya manwho loved her for no real reason at all.

But he would still love her. He would still want to be her brother. He couldnt imagine that ever changing.

You cant just stop being an older brother, can you? Kalen said in a tone so serious that Tomas looked taken aback. Even if youre not related by blood

Technically I think we are

Its forever, Kalen concluded.

He would give Tomas Orellen this. And maybe, one day, he would get it himself.

I will be your little brother, he said, picking up the coin. He gripped it in his fist and held his other hand out toward Tomas.

Were going to shake on it?

Its like a promise, isnt it? Now that Im old enough to understand it.

Tomas drew in a shaky breath. Like an oath, he said softly.

Hes so peculiar, thought Kalen. Its because he grew up here around all these mad people.

Tomas clasped his hand.

You can come with me for as long as you want, Kalen said, gripping it tightly. Or Ill go with you, if its in the right direction.

Tomas didnt let go either. He stared into Kalens eyes. All right. Where are we going then?

To the Archipelago. For the next apprenticeship tournament.